Why does the Salish Sea glow in the dark?

Summary

This is a transcript of an episode of Untold Earth, a series from Atlas Obscura in partnership with Nature and PBS Digital Studios, which explores the seeming impossibilities behind our planet’s strangest, most unique natural wonders. From fragile, untouched ecosystems to familiar but unexplained occurrences in our own backyards, Untold Earth chases insight into natural phenomena through the voices of those who know them best. Lucy Greeley: The closest thing I can think to imagining bioluminescence without it being bioluminescence are the stars. It’s magical that in the sky you can see all these stars and then in the water you can see all these stars. I think that’s what makes it so captivating for a lot of people. Narrator: From Aristotle to Darwin, humankind’s efforts to understand bioluminescence spans thousands of years. But even though it’s one of the oldest fields of scientific study, the answers remain elusive. What is it about this inscrutable mystery that inspires such obsession? David Ehrenberg & Spencer Millsap for Atlas Obscura Rob Purser: Well, the history of Suquamish Tribe, we’ve been here for thousands of years. We had villages all through this immediate area over in the Hood Canal and on the Bremerton and all over Kitsap Peninsula. Lucy: There isn’t really that much known about bioluminescence in the Salish Sea. I think that’s what makes it really special is a lot of people think about bioluminescence in these tropical regions, but we have it right up here in this very diverse and rich environment. I grew up in Seattle, Washington. I didn’t really know that much about it. I went to one sleepaway camp and I remember getting woken up in the middle of the night. The counselors all pulled us campers down to the shore and started swimming in it. And we were like, what? That’s crazy. And then I learned about this internship and I was like, that is perfect. So bioluminescence is a chemical reaction that occurs in a living organism in an oxygenated environm...